Petr Yan’s broken hand…

[ShaoKahn34]

He’s been implementing a very nice sneaky uppercut in his most recent fights that i think can surprise Merab. Still, idk whose taking this one.

 

[wrb]

Of Umar, Sandi, and Sean, Yan got beaten the worst in the first encounter with Merab. Merab even called for this rematch, lol.

 

[Kratos94]

Merab has been hurt badly before, but has yet to be finished by strikes. If anyone can do it, it is Yan despite being an underdog. One day Merab's chin and recovery will go. Thankfully there aren't too many big punchers at BW right now. O'Malley? beaten twice; Yadong? poor takedown defense; Yan? we'll see soon. I'd feel more confident picking Yan in his ACA/ACB days, because practically everyone he fought had a very similar style.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Didn’t Yan clip Merab pretty good early in the first fight?
Couldn’t finish him, then spent the next 4 rounds on his back IIRC?

Merab seems to still be at the top of his game though, so he should win easily

But 100 percent hand Yan could win handedly

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Yan is a bit of an enigma.

At times he has looked like a world beater. Then at others he gives uninspired performances.

I think Merabs pressure wins out again, but I won't count Yan out entirely. He's got some pretty slick hands and could hurt Merab.

Yan is not some insane build for the division, he’s realistically a bricked-up flyweight. So he’s giving away huge size and reach advantages to every opponent except guys like Faber.

He has to use intelligence, technique, reads, pressure, since he lacks those athletic intangibles. It is why his style seems to be based around drawing out attacks to build counters around. Taller/faster guys can snipe him and he’s open to shots pressuring in against them.

Everyone elite at BW is fast and strong, but some are truly exceptional in certain areas and if you add in size those elements present big challenges for Yan.

 

[mkess101]

I still don’t understand what Yan is even doing fighting for the belt.

UFC makes no damn sense

Basically..."Hey it's been awhile and Yan is winning and we'll wait one more fight and then do Umar again. Umar can dog walk Figgy as a -1000 favorite"

 

[rjmbrd]

Nobody beats Merab until his cardio fails.

He's good to great at everything and his pace is a weapon. Yan has frequently been a slow starter 'downloader' etc, you can't give up free rounds to Merab and hope to catch up with him later when you're more tired than he is.

This is MMA, Yan hits hard, anything can happen.... he's still a meaningful underdog IMO.

 

[ChessJitsu]

I think Petr Yan's best chance is knes (to the body, to the head)

 

[ChessJitsu]

Nobody beats Merab until his cardio fails.

He's good to great at everything and his pace is a weapon. Yan has frequently been a slow starter 'downloader' etc, you can't give up free rounds to Merab and hope to catch up with him later when you're more tired than he is.

This is MMA, Yan hits hard, anything can happen.... he's still a meaningful underdog IMO.

As a Yan fan I'm hoping Merab fighting 4X this year catches up to him.

Merab's aging too and his camp is retarded with handling aging fighters.

 

[rjmbrd]

Yan is not some insane build for the division, he’s realistically a bricked-up flyweight. So he’s giving away huge size and reach advantages to every opponent except guys like Faber.

This is demonstrably false. Yan fought at UFC 232 in California and CSAC releases fight night weights, so we don't have to guess. He was 149.5lbs in the cage and re-hydrated 10% of his body weight. That is absolutely not a 'bricked up flyweight' by any means, that is down the middle.

For comparison, MORE than half the card re-hydrated less body % than Yan, including Alex Gustafsson, Chiesa, Condit, Corey Anderson, Ryan Hall, BJ Penn, Nate Wood, Andre Ewell, Uriah Hall and even Chad Mendes.

He has to use intelligence, technique, reads, pressure, since he lacks those athletic intangibles. It is why his style seems to be based around drawing out attacks to build counters around. Taller/faster guys can snipe him and he’s open to shots pressuring in against them.

When is he fighting taller guys? Figgy, Merab and Aljo are all shorter than he is. Yadong and McGhee an inch taller. Sandhagen is unusually tall for the division and has routinely lost to guys shorter than him.

Everyone elite at BW is fast and strong, but some are truly exceptional in certain areas and if you add in size those elements present big challenges for Yan.

Yan is a down the middle sized bantamweight. This isn't even an opinion.

 

[BlackBradPaisley]

Injuries aside, Yan fought a bad fight and Merab fought a great one.

The takeaway from Yan needs to be that he can't give Merab the initiative - he's literally the one fighter you can't "wait and download" against because by the time you have made your reads and have a bead on his entries/set-ups he's already got you gassing and reacting to everything.

You have to bring the fight to Merab early and be willing to take chances. It's not like Merab is some control demi-god either, Yan got up within seconds of pretty much every single takedown, but he wasn't getting damage off or making Merab reactive to anything in the process. If you know your opponent is going to always be trying to you take you down, but can't control you then you might as well be constantly throwing timed takedown entry counter-strikes (i.e. flying/step knees, uppercuts).

To me the big X-Factor in this is the size of the cage - they fought at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in the 1st fight which uses the APEX size cage (25-foot), which makes a huge difference in being able to pressure guys into the cage. Now they'll be in the 30-foot regular cage and Merab will have to do a lot more to push Yan into the cage since he'll have far more time and space to move laterally.

Great analysis, man

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Always something with that guy!
Oh! I broke it on a beggar or some shit.
Man seem to be the scum of the Earth. So fuck him!

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

This is demonstrably false. Yan fought at UFC 232 in California and CSAC releases fight night weights, so we don't have to guess. He was 149.5lbs in the cage and re-hydrated 10% of his body weight. That is absolutely not a 'bricked up flyweight' by any means, that is down the middle.

For comparison, MORE than half the card re-hydrated less body % than Yan, including Alex Gustafsson, Chiesa, Condit, Corey Anderson, Ryan Hall, BJ Penn, Nate Wood, Andre Ewell, Uriah Hall and even Chad Mendes.

When is he fighting taller guys? Figgy, Merab and Aljo are all shorter than he is. Yadong and McGhee an inch taller. Sandhagen is unusually tall for the division and has routinely lost to guys shorter than him.

Yan is a down the middle sized bantamweight. This isn't even an opinion.

I said he's a bricked up FLY because of his build, which is thick with muscle, but short and stocky with limited reach, - it's not like he's tiny at BW, he's muscular as shit, but he has the height/reach of the average FLY not the average BW.

He's listed as 5'7'' with a 67 inch reach - his UFC opponents:

Ishihara - 5'7'' with a 69 inch reach
Son Jin-soo - 5'6'' with a 69 inch reach
De Andre - 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Dodson - 5'3'' with a 66 inch reach [actual FLY]
Riviera - 5'4'' with a 68 inch reach
Faber - 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach
Aldo - 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Sterling - 5'7'' with a 71 inch reach
Sandhagen - 5'11'' with a 69.5 inch reach
O'Malley - 5'11'' with a 72 inch reach
Merab - 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Yadong - 5'8'' with a 67 inch reach
Figgy - 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach [actual FLY]
McGhee - 5'8'' with a 68 inch reach

So every single opponent except one has had a reach advantage against him except Yadong, even when he was fighting FLY that moved up (the only time he was noticeably bigger than his opponent was against Dodson/Figgy). Sometimes he's been the same size as the opponent i.e. Faber/Rivera/De Andrade/Yadong, but typically he is the shorter fighter and almost always has less reach.

Once he got his title shot he had Aldo/Sterling/Sandhagen/O'Malley in a row that all have way longer reach and 3/4 are taller (Aljo is taller in stare down pictures). The guys he hasn't fought in the division in the top 10 are Umar/Bautista/Vera, all taller/longer reach. The only guy he has both height-reach advantage on is Cejudo at 10, again an actual FLY.

If we add in Font/Oliviera/Phillips pretty much all the ranked guys are taller/longer reach than him, he's only bigger than David Martinez. As the division has turned over the average BW is getting much bigger, Yan is from a past generation where there were more wrestle-boxers and smaller fighters doing well at the top, now they've gotten noticeably bigger.

If we look at FLY two-thirds of the top 15 are basically just as tall or taller and all have longer reach:

Pantoja is 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach
Royval is 5'9'' with a 68 inch reach
Moreno is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Taira is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Kape is 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Steve Erceg is 5'8'' with a 68 inch reach
Albazi is 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Tagir is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Johnson is 5'9'' with a 70 inch reach

Most of the other ranked guys at FLY are all basically within an inch of Yan in height/reach (Van/Perez/Kavanagh), except for Van/Gooch/Silva being noticeably shorter/less reach (and even then it's just an inch or two).

So that's just what the facts show. The majority of ranked FLY are about the same height with longer reach than him. Almost every ranked BW is taller with longer reach than him. To say he's a bricked-up FLY seems like a pretty fair assessment of his height/reach based on that.

 

[rollthedice]

Healthy hand Petr Yan damn my man he is no can,

Bars

 

[legedema]

Yan is an interesting fighter, if you go back and watch his first fight against Sterling, he had all the answers against Sterlings grappling and Yan was even the better grappler.
but 2nd Sterling fight was a disaster.Sterling was the superior grappler and won the fight that way

 

[mkt]

Healthy hand Petr Yan damn my man he is no can,

Yan is going to end up on his can about 20 seconds into every round I'm afraid.

 

[fandangler101]

I rewatched the fight the other day and broken hand or not that high guard that Yan uses is just horrible for fighting Merab.

Was thinking the same. Wonder how Yan will adjust in the rematch.

 

[rjmbrd]

I said he's a bricked up FLY because of his build, which is thick with muscle, but short and stocky with limited reach, - it's not like he's tiny at BW, he's muscular as shit, but he has the height/reach of the average FLY not the average BW.

He's listed as 5'7'' with a 67 inch reach - his UFC opponents:

Ishihara - 5'7'' with a 69 inch reach
Son Jin-soo - 5'6'' with a 69 inch reach
De Andre - 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Dodson - 5'3'' with a 66 inch reach [actual FLY]
Riviera - 5'4'' with a 68 inch reach
Faber - 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach
Aldo - 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Sterling - 5'7'' with a 71 inch reach
Sandhagen - 5'11'' with a 69.5 inch reach
O'Malley - 5'11'' with a 72 inch reach
Merab - 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Yadong - 5'8'' with a 67 inch reach
Figgy - 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach [actual FLY]
McGhee - 5'8'' with a 68 inch reach

So every single opponent except one has had a reach advantage against him except Yadong, even when he was fighting FLY that moved up (the only time he was noticeably bigger than his opponent was against Dodson/Figgy). Sometimes he's been the same size as the opponent i.e. Faber/Rivera/De Andrade/Yadong, but typically he is the shorter fighter and almost always has less reach.

Once he got his title shot he had Aldo/Sterling/Sandhagen/O'Malley in a row that all have way longer reach and 3/4 are taller (Aljo is taller in stare down pictures). The guys he hasn't fought in the division in the top 10 are Umar/Bautista/Vera, all taller/longer reach. The only guy he has both height-reach advantage on is Cejudo at 10, again an actual FLY.

If we add in Font/Oliviera/Phillips pretty much all the ranked guys are taller/longer reach than him, he's only bigger than David Martinez. As the division has turned over the average BW is getting much bigger, Yan is from a past generation where there were more wrestle-boxers and smaller fighters doing well at the top, now they've gotten noticeably bigger.

If we look at FLY two-thirds of the top 15 are basically just as tall or taller and all have longer reach:

Pantoja is 5'5'' with a 68 inch reach
Royval is 5'9'' with a 68 inch reach
Moreno is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Taira is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Kape is 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Steve Erceg is 5'8'' with a 68 inch reach
Albazi is 5'6'' with a 68 inch reach
Tagir is 5'7'' with a 70 inch reach
Johnson is 5'9'' with a 70 inch reach

Most of the other ranked guys at FLY are all basically within an inch of Yan in height/reach (Van/Perez/Kavanagh), except for Van/Gooch/Silva being noticeably shorter/less reach (and even then it's just an inch or two).

So that's just what the facts show. The majority of ranked FLY are about the same height with longer reach than him. Almost every ranked BW is taller with longer reach than him. To say he's a bricked-up FLY seems like a pretty fair assessment of his height/reach based on that.

Look at your own list here - Yan is literally the same height or taller than MOST of his opponents, including the current and former champion.

If your argument is that he has average reach for his height, sure. He is not the size of a flyweight and he's not a small bantamweight.

He is lean and muscled on the scale and re-hydrated 10% of his bodyweight, which was MORE THAN AVERAGE across all divisions on his CSAC fight card.

This isn't an opinion, its patently absurd to say Yan is a overly muscled flyweight, stupid to the point of hilarity I'm even typing this but here we are.

 

[FreedomCricket]

Flying knee at the opening seconds. Come out hard and with that knee.

 

[SkinnyClaw]

I remember thinking petr yan was the cardio king back then before merab.. he looked so off in that fight, but again that was a total domination. I think merab will get the w but in a closer fight

I think people don't give Yan the credit for his cardio in that fight, he defended until the very end, he is definitely a cardio freak himself, it felt like he was more defeated mentally to me